Ciacco is a 13th-century Florentine glutton condemned to the swamp of the Third Circle of Hell, where he takes the form of a black pig. He was rescued from the swamp by Sven during the cycle of the Descent.
| Type | Character (condemned soul) |
| Era | 13th century (life); continued condemnation |
| Location | Third Circle, swamp of the gluttons |
| Rescued by | Sven |
| Houses of the Cycle | ☷ House of the Descent · ⌖ House of History |
| Spanish entry | Ciacco |
Description
He is depicted as a black pig seated in a rural kitchen, with an open Bible on the table, herbs hanging from the ceiling, a pot on the fire and a wooden floor. The Third Circle, where gluttony is punished, houses its condemned in the form gluttony gave them inwardly. The kitchen is a witch’s, not a monastery’s: the herbs are gifts of infernal hospitality, not remedies, and the Bible is an ornament its owner kept out of habit, not for reading.
History
A Florentine of the 13th century, he was condemned to the swamp of the gluttons, where the eternal rain mired him with the others. Dante found him in the mud; they spoke briefly, Ciacco prophesied the political misfortunes of Florence, and sank again. Ciacco remembers this conversation as the last time a mortal treated him as a person.
In the cycle of the Descent, Sven rescued him from the swamp together with another, anonymous fat soul. He joined the group as a voluntary escort, a status that in that penal system opens the possibility of partial redemption when a condemned soul commits to a living guide. He clung to Sven with loyalty.
See also
- Sven
- Inferno — Ante-Inferno + full descent
- Third Circle (Gluttony)
- Plutus — authority of the Circle